BEST BETS Thursday 3/8

IRVINE

8pm

Theater

Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” presents the mother of all midlife crises. Halvard Solness is the top dog among home builders in his region, but he fears the upsurge of a new generation of architect/engineers aiming to supplant him. Enter a lovely young muse to prod him toward his greatest heights ever. Factor in Solness’ obsessive guilt over building his career on the ruin of a marriage in which his wife has been left shattered and empty, and you have the setup for a tragic fall.

* “The Master Builder,” Studio Theatre, Mesa Road and West Peltason Drive, Irvine. Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m. Through March 17. $6 to $8. (949) 824-2787 or (949) 824-5000.

COSTA MESA

8pm

Music

The bicentennial of Mozart’s death took place 10 years ago. It’s time again to focus programs on the great son of Salzburg, as the Pacific Symphony will do in a program under the direction of guest conductor Michael Stern. Concertmaster Raymond Kobler will be the soloist in two early Mozart works--Adagio for Violin and Orchestra in E and Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in B-flat--and Andreas Haefliger will be the soloist in the great C-minor Piano Concerto. The program also will include Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 4 (“Mozartiana”) and George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings.”

* Pacific Symphony, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. $19 to $52. ($12 senior/student rush.) (714) 556-2787.

COSTA MESA

7:30 pm

Cabaret

Singer-actress Sally Kellerman, who earned strong reviews when she took her act to New York recently, steps in for Broadway-bound Faith Prince on the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s cabaret series.

* Sally Kellerman, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Thursday and Friday, 9 p.m.; Saturday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. $45 and $49. (714) 556-2787.

IRVINE

8pm

Music

Andrew Manze is often regarded as the first modern superstar of the baroque violin. He will make his debut with the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in a Mozart program, however, not a baroque one. Manze will conduct the “Jupiter” Symphony; March in D, K385a; Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, and also take the solo role in the Violin Concerto No. 4, K. 218. The concert is sponsored by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.

* Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. 8 p.m. $29 to $34. (949) 854-4646.

FULLERTON

8pm

Music

Research into his family’s involvement on both sides of the War Between the States led tenor Robert Trentham to create “In Thinking of America,” a program of songs of the Civil War era. Both North and South are represented through parlor songs, battle hymns and spirituals that range from the humorous to the stirring. The program is part of the North Orange County Community Concerts Assn. series, now in its 55th season.

* Robert Trentham, Fullerton First United Methodist Church, 114 N. Pomona Ave. 8 p.m. Admission by membership only, available at the door. (714) 535-8925.